232 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



adjudication. The appeal by the committee of arrangements 

 to the owners of such animals was addressed to their public 

 spirit, to contribute to the interest of the show, by the produc- 

 tion of their fine cattle, and through this agency, to encourage 

 their more general dissemination and the higher improvement 

 of the stock of the county. As no statement of pedigree, or 

 product, or mode of treatment, or expense of feeding, had been 

 required of the exhibitors, and, with but partial exceptions, 

 none were offered to the committee, the examination of the 

 animals was, with them, of external points and general appear- 

 ance only, with but little means of obtaining information for 

 the instruction of others. Hence this report must necessarily 

 be meagre in all those facts which should primarily be sought 

 for in such exhibitions, and are most wanting for public com- 

 munication. 



The Short-horn breed has long been known in England as a 

 distinct variety of cattle, and is believed to have originated in 

 Holland. They were first introduced for their milking qualities, 

 and afterwards, through spirited and vigilant care and atten- 

 tion, by observant and skilful breeders, about the beginning of 

 the present century, they were brought to excel all other breeds 

 in the properties most valuable for the farm and market. 

 Martin, a British writer of large observation and great celeb- 

 rity, in treating of this breed, as found in the counties of 

 Durham and York, exclaims with admiration: "How great is 

 the change which the breeder's pains and care have effected ! 

 In no strain of cattle is this more palpable, for now, while their 

 milking properties are preserved, the tendency to fatten is 

 brought to a very high ratio, and these qualities are combined 

 with size, a magnificent figure, the production of beef most 

 beautifully grained and of highest excellence; — qualities, 

 indeed, hitherto considered as incompatible with each other, 

 meet together in the improved Short-horns of Holderness or 

 Teeswater celebrity." He adds to this, that " they excel in 

 these three valuable particulars, viz.: in affording the greatest 

 quantity of beef, tallow, and milk." The marvellous sales at 

 almost incredible prices, by Mr. Charles Colling, in 1810, of a 

 large herd, at from lifty to one thousand guineas for a single 

 bull, and from thirty-five to four hundred guineas for a cow, 

 and in 1818, by Mr. Robert Colling, of his herd of the same 



